I really wanted to watch this but it was getting very late.. should really go to bed.. and then I realized I was wearing a Firefly t-shirt so I took it as a sign and watched it

Yes the death is quite gutting. We don't even know that guy but it's such a waste.. he's the one there should be a statue to, someone who gave his life to keep his people's spirits alive.

I think this episode is another that shows why the life the crew has chosen is one of freedom compared to what they might have ended up with on a planet. Mal grew up on some kind of ranch.. you can picture his potential spiral downwards in to indentured servitude if he hadn't wrangled his way into ship ownership and had the savvy to keep himself there. He'd probably have started off being hired as a legitimate worker, gotten into a brawl at some point and gotten into debt paying off fines and penalties and eventually end up owned by someone trying to work off the impossible. There's more freedom in being an outlaw and staying "in the black" offers more still.

It's a hard verse for many. Even those high up the system may find reason to need to escape from it (Simon, Inara's choice to not ensconce herself in luxury on some top planet..)

And..

I like it when he comes down in the morning with a woman on his arm singing,.

"Our love for him now ain't hard to explain
the hero of Canton the man they call ME!"